There is a difference between Cooper being your 3rd or 4th option, and your second. When McCoy has a slow start to the year, that affects TD% and Int% due to defenses dropping back. Nobody thought Nick would maintain his 2013 .6% Int%. Maclin had a great year, but he's not a deep threat like Jackson. There wasn't a valid reason for cutting Jackson for nothing in return. We would have been better off with Maclin as the 2nd option, and so would have Nick.

The first litmus test Foles faced in 2014 he passed by beating Andrew Luck. Fluke?

Agreed

Money + Status = Trophy GF/wife irrespective of how you acquire that money and status (e.g. cheating)

You missed my point.

Why couldn't Chip at least be able to put up a fight with Mike Vick? If Vick is as bad as other posters claim, then why did Chip's "eye test" tell him to start Vick?

No one thought we had a chance against GB. But, why did we have a year end meltdown with Sanchez (SEA, DAL, WAS) when it mattered most? Do you think we should have won any of those games? The final score against Seattle looks close. It wasn't. The Eagles were never in that game.

Is any of the above Chip's responsibility?

Yes, OP other metrics matter. All of Sanchez's numbers went up slightly. That's why he went 4 - 4 with wins over (HOU, CAR, TEN), before the meaningless end of season game at New York. Any chance his Comp%, TD%, and Y/A went up due to having a better offense than under Rex Ryan? Or, do you think those numbers improved because he was under a better coach?

This whole "legacy of cheating" is so overblown. Outside of Spygate (which was fairly benign in the grand scheme of things, i.e. filming in a forbidden location, not that it was illegal to film), what documented cheating has gone on in NE?

Your opinion. When you know the answers to a multiple choice test, you're always going to get an "A".

To your first statement. That's your opinion. In your estimation, filming other teams signals was "benign".

To the later statement. None.

Off Topic: What documented evidence do you have that President Obama is a liar?

Thread is going places now!

You do realize that filming was legal, yes? Then a memo was sent out specifying the proper location to film from (when filming was to be used in a game the same day) -- The Patriots failed to comply with the location. That's it.
It's not exactly systematic cheating the salary cap or installing speakers in the helmets of O-linemen is it?

Before you said, "Vick is one of the worst QB's in the NFL."

When answering as to why coach Kelly started Vick you say:

I gotcha.

I definitely do think Vick is one of the worst QB's in the league, but it's fairly logical that there are differences in the skillsets of all three QB's. I won't profess to know whether Kelly thought he could exploits Vick's skill set better than the one of Nick Foles.

These questions have to ascend to a higher level.

So you're saying, it was merely a techicality.

Do you think New England gained much of an edge (knowing the other teams play calls ahead of time) by side-stepping this "technicality"?

No, it was literally just a technicality. That's all it was. Kraft was stupid not to fight the charge. Even worse because the memo by Goodell wasn't even a sanctioned rule change.

Let's leave this derail alone now. If you're a Spygate truther as well, there's not much point in having a rational discussion with you.

Bottom line: In the beginning of 2013 Chip started Vick because he thought he had a better chance of winning with Mike Vick over Nick Foles. He was wrong. And it wasn't close.

Do you think a coach should ever start, "one of the worst QB's in the league" because he could "exploit VIck's skill set better than the one of Nick Foles?"

No. A coach shouldn't do that, but you're working with hindsight in your favor, aren't you?
It's not like Nick Foles shone in 2012 is it? He had a QBR of around 40 and fumbled almost once a game, which having a 1:1 td/int ratio. And to use your metric, he was 1-5 as a starter IIRC.

Regarding Spygate: The argument that, "look how much coverage Spy Gate got", or "everyone 'knows' what happened so what 'we' believes hold's water," are bull**** arguments that are tossed around all the time.

This thread got derailed after the multiple choice test.

Of course hindsight is 20/20.

Yes, Nick Foles had a good rookie season

http://blogs.mcall.com/eagles/2013/0...ie-season.html

Here is some of the article if you don't want to go to that site.

"
• Foles appeared in 7 games last season. In those games, the opposing QBs had a combined passer rating of an astounding 138.6. The single season record for passer rating was Aaron Rodgers in 2011, at 122.5. The next two guys on the list are Peyton Manning in 2004, at 121.1, and Tom Brady in 2007, at 117.2. In the seasons in which Rodgers, Manning, and Brady put up those numbers, they combined for a record of 43-5, or a winning percentage of 0.896. Because the Eagles' defense couldn't stop anyone last year, particularly in the games in which Foles appearred, Foles was playing against the equivalent of some sort of infalliable QB that can only be created in a video game.

• Because the defense couldn't stop anyone, Foles was asked to throw the ball at an absurd rate for a rookie. In the 6 games he started, Foles threw 233 passes, for an average of 38.3 per game. He also threw 32 passes in 2.5 quarters against the Cowboys, in relief of Michael Vick, to bring his total on the season to 265. By comparison, Russell Wilson threw 393 passes in 16 starts, or 24.6 per game. Not to take anything away from Wilson, who was tremendous last year, but when you have the #1 ranked defense in points allowed, the #4 ranked defense for yards allowed, the #3 ranked rush offense, and the lowest runass ratio (42% pass : 58% run) in the NFL, that tends to make things a lot easier on a QB.

• Key offensive players who did not play in the games Foles started:

Redskins: Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Todd Herremans, Jason Avant.
Panthers: Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Todd Herremans, Jason Avant, LeSean McCoy.
Cowboys: Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Todd Herremans, LeSean McCoy.
Buccaneers: Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Todd Herremans, LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson, Brent Celek (played 1 snap).
Bengals: Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Todd Herremans, LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson, Brent Celek.
Redskins: Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Todd Herremans, DeSean Jackson.

The sum all of that up succinctly, Foles was playing without 3 of his 4 best offensive linemen as well as his best skill position players, and was being asked to chuck the ball 40 times per game while playing from behind because opposing offenses were slicing through Philly's defense like a hot knife through butter.

And yet, among all QBs in the NFL who threw as many passes as Foles last season, only 5 threw fewer INTs per attempt than Nick Foles. They were Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger, and Robert Griffin III.

Nick Foles does not have a laser rocket arm, and his foot speed is not going to remind anyone of Usain Bolt. But he's smart, from what I can see his teammates respect him, his pocket presence is exceptional, he's accurate, and he'll step into passes while taking hits and keep coming back. Additionally, from what I've seen of him beginning with the 2012 Senior Bowl practices before he was even an Eagle, all the way through until the Eagles' most recent minicamp, he has steadily continued to get better.

If we're comparing Nick Foles to guys like Robert Griffin III and Colin Kaepernick, then yes, he is absolutely "meh." But if we're looking realistically at where he should be heading into his 2nd season as a pro, I'd say it's perfectly fine to have some level of optimism about Nick Foles.
"

As far as the last paragraph goes, the article was posted on June 17, 2013. Hindsight is 20/20.

lol at desean jackson top 5 wr. thats a good one.

exactly, Desean Jackson has a 58-59-1 record as an NFL WR. That's a losing record! Not even top 50

How would you rate his 2013 performance? His overall performance?

Where was that said again?

lol

Going hard in the paint. Keeps missing layups but, still, going hard nonetheless.

Top 5 was thrown around a few times by local sports radio people when we released Jackson. Of course talking heads blow smoke out their ass all the time. My point is that he's up there, and releasing him with nothing in return was about as dumb as Jake's posts.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/46...ey-says-desean...

"

“Right now? He’s top five,” Cooley argued. “Has done so with three different starting quarterbacks. I think that’s incredible. He’s made plays with shorts catches, he’s made with screens he’s made plays down the field. I think he’s one of the more versatile [receivers].”

Jackson ranks third in the NFL in yards-per-route-run, according to Pro Football Focus, behind just Demaryius Thomas and Brown. He also leads the NFL with an average of 21.8 yards-per-catch.

He is, of course, much further down the list in more traditional categories; Jackson ranks seventh in receiving yards, ninth in yards-per-game, tied for 26th in touchdown catches, and tied for 37th in receptions.
"

When you release a top receiver in the NFL who is a deep threat on every play, who spreads the field, who often times requires double coverage, who garners the attention of defenses, and your #2 becomes Cooper, the pressure on your QB increases.

Off Topic: Who's a better bowler? You or President Obama?

not even close to top 5 but he was better for the eagles under Chip. Whether it was chip or the rules outlawing head shots/and all other hard hits or what he did get D Jack to actually go across the middle something Andy could not do.